Dark Knight

Frank Miller is known for being a writer that commands an almost “genius” status. His work on Daredevil back in the 80’s is the stuff that legends are made from and his Sin City and 300 comic book properties have been made into movies that are jaw-droppingly beautiful and stylish – artistic in all of the right ways. In other words, when Miller speaks, many people listen, and with good cause. His recent remarks regarding one of the most popular characters that he has worked on, however, may have a few fans scratching their heads. (more…)

“Iron What?” Now that Iron Man 3 has gobbled up all your allowance money for the month, let’s look forward to June 14 with another TV spot for Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel.

In case you’ve forgotten, the film was produced by Dark Knight auteur Christopher Nolan, and written by David S. Goyer. Starring Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Russell Crowe as Jor-El and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Pa and Ma Kent, Man of Steel retells and updates the origins of the Last Son of Krypton, how he came to Earth and how he embraced his destiny as the world’s greatest hero. It comes out June 14th in the theaters everywhere.

The Blu-ray release of Dark Knight Rises is coming up next week, no doubt packed with all sorts of nifty little extras that will have fans spending hours and hours watching things that aren’t the actual film. To celebrate, Christopher Nolan came out and talked openly about all things Batman in an interview with Film Comment.

He chats about many aspects of working with the franchise, including influences, vision, techniques, politics, casting and several other subjects dealing with the production of and meaning behind the trilogy.

Here are a few of the more interesting things that Nolan had to say, plucked from a rather large article at this NerdBastard’s discretion.

PhD and tenure aside, Dr. Travis Langley is incredibly easy to talk to. No doubt, his years of teaching Psychology at Henderson University (a liberal arts university in Arkansas) have taught him to be patient with overeager psych nerds, like me. It’s not just his patience that puts you at ease, it’s also own eagerness and excitement for the subject. Dr. Langley is the Batman Psychologist. This is not just a self-professed title; Besides the recent release of Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knighthe just wrapped up teaching a course about the psychology of Batman at Henderson. The book evaluates the inner psyche of Batman, applying different psychological theories to Batman’s intensely traumatic life. Before I launched into my questions about the book, though, I had to ask Dr. Langley about his class on Batman. Specifically, how did he convince the psychology department at Henderson to let him teach a class about Batman?!

Dr. Langley: You know how in a math class you might have an example, “This train is moving at this speed, and that train is moving at that speed…” Well, for somebody who loves trains, why not have an entire course on the math of trains? They could learn all the math more easily if it’s full of examples they appreciate. With Batman, it’s using psychology to teach Batman, and Batman to teach psychology. And it works out really well. And it’s got a mix of students, from those who know Batman really well to those who didn’t know him any better than average. But, they were the students who were interested enough to take the class. And they all reported that they got a lot out of it. They get close, too, because a bunch of these are students who…they have to be guarded in a lot of ways. You don’t go out in your other classes and just announce your nerdy interests. But in a class called Batman, there’s nothing too nerdy to talk about in there. (more…)

Welcome to the next exciting chapter in All Things Dark Knight! Ok, so maybe it’s the first chapter, but it’s still exciting none-the-less. In the following paragraphs you shall experience the joy and misery of latest developments on the Batman front. Prepare yourselves, gentle readers, to have your mind blown (or at least learn something new).

First up, a very informative interview with the composer of the amazing score for The Dark Knight Rises (as well as the first two of Nolan’s franchise), Hans Zimmer. He and the supervising sound editor, Richard King talk about the many creative brainstorms that went into making TheDark Knight Rises more than just a trail of dialogue and visual effects.

Pretty freakin’ cool, especially if you happen to be a sound nerd. The next portion of the round-up isn’t so cool, however, so brace yourselves for a few words of criticism about The Dark Knight Rises from former 1960s Catwoman, Julie Newmar.

In a recent interview with Yahoo’s The Yo Show (seriously guys? you couldn’t think of a better name than that?) Newmar voiced her opinions about Nolan’s franchise. You can witness her interview by clicking on that arrow-thingy below.

And now, a look into a bit of The Dark Knight Rises’technology (after the bump).

Every day the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com

Any doubters that Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy will fit neatly together as one overall story should check out the fan made trailer below. It’s 5-minutes of dark, moody action that shows just how seamlessly each different chapter in this trilogy fits together.

Many of you NerdBastards out there will be attending, or watching your own Batman marathon before going out to brave the lines and check out The Dark Knight Rises. After enjoying the first two movies watch this trailer to bring them all together.

Every day the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com.

ABOVE: Nerd confession time, like most red blooded American males I have always found the Playboy Mansion to be a mythical place of wonder and amazement. That doubled this morning when I saw Playboy Bunnies dressed up as The Avengers. The Black Widow one is a bit of a stretch though… [Bleeding Cool]

As the ominous date that heralds the release of Christopher Nolan’s last installment in his Batman trilogy approaches, speculation runs rampant as to exactly what part Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be fulfilling in his role as John Blake. Rumors currently range from him being Batman’s successor to Blake being Nolan’s version of Robin to him acting as a Batman stand-in while Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) deals with his own problems.

Speculation is heating up even more due to the release of The Dark Knight Manual, a book detailing some aspects of Nolan’s version of the Batman universe. The book is set up like a collection of props, from sketches and diagrams (including the Batsuit and the Batcave) to case files and top-secret documents. Each of the materials offers a bit of insight into Batman and other characters from the movies.

The most relevant of these materials regarding the John Blake mystery is the collection of files on the Joker, specifically those relating to his speculated identity. One excerpt reads:

“The Joker does not appear to have any connections to Gotham’s crime syndicates, though he knocked over a mob bank. One possible motive for this, which could also explain the clown motif, is the Haley Brothers Circus. The circus was recently in town for a two-month engagement and it was rumored their boss had connections to Sal Maroni. The Joker could be a former Haley Brothers employee with some kind of grudge against the mob.”

Haley Brothers Circus, for those in the know, hosts the acrobatic team of the Flying Graysons, who just happen to be Dick Grayson’s parents (he’s the original Robin, btw).

In addition, there is the fact that Blake is an orphan, just like both Batman and Robin. This puts him in a classic position to fill either role with the same level of motivation that the originals would have.

So, while a little more information is out in the open, there is still no definitive answer to the Blake question. I guess we’ll all have to wait until July 20th to find out for sure. In the meanwhile, have fun guessing and be secure in the knowledge that you’ll probably be dead wrong about the truth of the matter.

The Dark Knight Rises may not be hitting theaters until July 20, but tickets are on sale as of now. Sales are hot for this one already, so if you really, really need to see it at the opening midnight show, you’d best be on your way as soon as possible. Reports are in that Fandango has already sold out multiple midnight IMAX shows and if things keep going the way they are the whole opening weekend will likely be sold out before you manage to finish reading this article.

In fact, sales of opening weekend tickets have been so rampant that the Fandango website has been experiencing multiple crashes and errors. Never fear, however, as if you are persistent enough you can battle through these glitches to get your tix eventually.

Over an hour of the new flick is shot in “true IMAX,” which (and I did not know this) requires a 70mm IMAX screen to view properly. Some theaters feature digital IMAX, but apparently this isn’t quite the same deal. So if you’re hardcore about it, you’re going to need to check with your local theaters to see what kind of screen they’re presenting it on in order to get the full experience.

So, fanboys and Dark Knight fanatics… get ready… get set… and go buy! Once again: the Fandango website is selling them right now.

Those of us that don’t care too much about seeing the movie at midnight or in IMAX get the stress-free option of purchasing our tickets at the movie theater, like everyone used to have to do back in the “good ol’ days.”

Btw, if you finished this article from top to bottom, you may have already missed your chance to get tickets. Nerdbastards sincerely apologizes but claims no responsibility or liability for the chaos that is the Dark Knight Rises opening weekend.

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A news and entertainment blog for nerd pop culture. We are vulgar, debaucherous, and funny bastards that pilfer the internet (or interwebz, if you like) for the news you need so that you don't have to. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll often shake your fist in an angry fury but your time here is worth the price of admission (which is free for those of you not paying attention)